Marina Kukla, Ph.D

Marina is a Core Investigator at the HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication at the Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. In addition, she is an Adjunct Assistant Research Professor at the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Department of Psychology. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Marian College in 2004, Master of Science in 2007 and Ph.D. in 2010 from IUPUI. Marina completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the University of California San Diego/VA San Diego Healthcare System in 2010 and went on to a postdoctoral fellowship in health services research at the HSR&D Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence Based Practice at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center from 2010 to 2012.
Marina’s research has the goal of improving work functioning and other community outcomes in persons with mental illness, particularly veterans. In addition, Marina is a licensed clinical psychologist working in the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center at the Roudebush VA Medical Center, which provides psychotherapy and psychiatric rehabilitation services to veterans with severe mental illness.

Research:

Currently, Marina has a Career Development Award funded by VA Rehabilitation Research and Development with the goal of improving work outcomes in veterans with mental illness. Through the course of this project, Marina and her team have conducted a national mixed methods survey of VA vocational providers to understand barriers and facilitators to work success, elucidate quality job development practices, and understand elements that influence effective job development implementation. In addition, Marina and her team have adapted a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention, termed the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Work Success CBTw) program, to include tailored work content with the objective of improving community employment outcomes among veterans with mental illness. To date, preliminary evidence suggests that CBTw may be a promising intervention to augment existing vocational services and assist veterans to reach their work goals. Marina and her team are currently conducting an open trial pilot of CBTw to further examine its effects on community work outcomes. Lastly, Marina also serves as a co-investigator on studies examining the implementation of mental health services, community reintegration for veterans with invisible injuries, and testing interventions aimed at helping veterans manage chronic conditions such as musculoskeletal pain.